Howdy, we have a 2004 45ft Marquis with a problem slide on the front passenger slide. We took the coach to BCS in May for repairs and service; one was to have the slide adjusted because the back of the slide when closed did not line up with the rest of coach, it was down about a 1/2" at the back of the slide. BCS said the slide could not be adjusted that in fact the coach needed to have additional support added to remedy the problem. With the slide extended out, if you looked down the opening in the coach wall you could see a sag in the opening in side of the coach. We took it to a welding shop in Bend that BCS recommended and uses frequently. They could not schedule us in so we made an appoint for about 10 days later and went home to north Idaho. Upon returning the welders addressed the issue and we picked it up 2 days later at 6:00 in the morning.
The slide now was level with the rest of the exterior but stuck out from the rear face of the coach side, about 3/4' where the cargo compartment starts below and the top of the slide was in about 1/2". The welders said they could not adjust it any further and maybe I would just have to live with it. When I fired up the coach the Aladdin system would not come up so I checked the inverter which showed the coach batteries at 4 Volts. Our inverter will not charge the batteries if they are below 9 Volts. They put an external charger on the batteries for a couple of hours and I fired up the Generator and the inverter began to charge the batteries. I ran the Generator for 8 hours on the trip home to charge the batteries but noticed the Chassis battery voltage would drop as soon as I turned of the Generator. Upon arriving home I disconnected the toad and found out it's battery was completely dead. We had gone to the welder in Bend because of BCS recommendation and knew it was critical to have a welder who knows how to isolate the electrical system of the coach when welding on the frame.
The next day I put the slide out and found they had added a 2" strip of steel on the coach underneath the entire length of the slide, which was on top of the rubber flap used as a draft seal that would drag against the bottom of the slide. To my amazement they put the rubber flap upside down at the bottom of the steel leaving a 2" gap the entire length of the slide: I could see the back side of the toe kick on the kitchen cabinets. Our slide includes the couch and all of the kitchen cabinets on the passenger side of the coach and two lower cargo compartments below. Two additional outriggers were welded to the frame to add additional support for the weight. I saw an 05 45ft Marquis at BCS which looked the same as ours but that particular slide did not include the lower storage compartments extending with the slide, they were fixed below and did not extended with the slide.
These trips to Bend are about a 1,000 miles round trip for us and we have made 2 more trips than I had planned for this year.
Our coach went back to the welder 2 weeks ago and the rubber draft strip and steel were removed and re-installed properly but nothing was done to correct the slide fitting properly. The coach then went to BCS to see if they could adjust the slide for proper alignment but the Service Manager called last Friday and said the Guys in the shop said it could not be adjusted any further; at that point I asked if they could take a second look at it to see if there is something else that could be done to correct the problem. I would assume this was a manufacture problem that they corrected in the next years production.
If anyone out there has any suggestions or has encountered this problem before I would certainly welcome any advice or suggestions. BCS has been great to work with and I thought for sure if anyone could fix the problem it would be them? The coach is still at BCS at this time.
Thanks, Jim Morse
